Tag Archives: Theatrhythm

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is a fairly new series that emerged from Square Enix in 2012 for 3DS and later iOS platforms. Essentially, when boiled down to its most fundamental elements Theatrhythm Final Fantasy is often compared to Rock Band or Guitar Hero for the Final Fantasy universe of music. Curtain Call is second installment and a thank you from SE to the gaming community at large for supporting the first Theatrhythm Final Fantasy project on the Nintendo 3DS prior to this one. The title seems to have been a success with critics taking favor and sales seemingly decent enough. Its success can be easily attributed to the nostalgia and emotional attachment that millions of gamers around the world share for the musical arrangements of the various Final Fantasy video game soundtracks showcased in Curtain Call. If you never picked up the original, you can also view the movies it contained during EMS stages in Curtain Call’s Museum: Theater section.

My favorite songs to play in Theatrhythm Final Fantasy – Curtain Call are definitely the Main Theme on FF1, FF2, and a few others (it’s great to hear that familiar melody), the Final Fantasy VI and VII soundtracks are also personal favorites (I wish they put more tracks from those games). Using my Turtle Beach 3DS XL headphones the quality of the music for a dedicated gaming handheld device is incredible. Most of the songs were composed so well for the classic Final Fantasy series, that listening to them causes one to drift off to another place mentally and spiritually. Very moving musician work indeed makes for an engaging rhythm genre gem.

The ability to play music when you just want to hear it instead of being restricted to gameplay only is a great additional feature to Curtain Call that fans can enjoy. The soundtrack set of Curtain Call has everything to offer for gamers regardless if they’ve played the Final Fantasy series or not. Everything from full symphony music to retro chip-tunes, legit 8 bit stuff, and even modern soundtrack elements from newer titles.

Everything in Curtain Call is unlockable by playing the game. This isn’t one of those, spend money and get surprised by endless DLC later – which I appreciate since this Review is out of my own pocket. The many collectibles in the game are easily organized into a few key sections including CollectaCards and Card Binder: Collection (Normal, Rare, Premium) different designs to each for use in the Model Viewer, touch a card and examine in-game models from your Collection once you get the CollectaCard for that character (such as Cloud Strife Chibi). This game even features Play Records and Trophies for the really serious perfectionists out there.

Characters:

Main Characters:

Tidus

Cloud Strife

Squall Leonhart

Lightning

Cecil Harvey

Terra Branford

Zidane Tribal

Warrior of Light

Firion

Onion Knight

Shantotto

Vaan

Y*shtola

Bartz Klauser

Returning Characters:

Locke Cole

Tifa Lockhart

Sephiroth

Cid Haze

Kain Highwind

Yuna

Celes Chere

Aerith Gainsborough

Vivi Ornitier

Auron

Prishe

Ashelia Binargin Dalmasca

Balthier

Cosmos

Ramza Beoulve

Serah Farron

Hope Estheim

Snow Villiers

Seifer Almasy

Rinoa Heartily

Garnet Til Alexandros XVII

Rydia

Princess Sarah

Minwu

New Characters:

Barret Wallace

Zack Fair

Tifa Lockhart*

Yuna*

Rikku*

Paine

Edge Geraldine

Lenna Charlotte Tycoon

Galuf Halm Baldesion

Laguna Loire

Eiko Carol

Edgar Roni Figaro

Lilisette

Aphmau

Jecht

Fran

Oerba Dia Vanille

Noel Kreiss

Lightning*

Benjamin

Agrias Oaks

Ciaran

Rem Tokimiya

Machina Kunagiri

Ace

Chaos

Downloadable Characters:

Gau

Vincent Valentine

Yuffie Kisaragi

Cloud Strife*

Auron*

Rosa Joanna Farrell

Krile Mayer Baldesion

Cidolfus Orlandeau

Special Characters:

Chocobo

Moogle

Fat Chocobo

Key = * indicates special alternate version of character

Graphics / Art Direction in the game are above standard for the Nintendo 3DS as a platform overall, showing that this is a game Square Enix teams really care about. Great work to the development team who seem to have mastered the 3D effect for players’ eyes as well even in a lit setting. (3DS XL used in testing this, your device may not get same result depending on the amount of glare and the model of Nintendo device being used)

221 Final Fantasy Songs in total (10 from FF7, 14 if you grab the DLC and 10 from FF6 or 12 if you grab the DLC).

FF games represented through song in Curtain Call:

Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy II

Final Fantasy III

Final Fantasy IV

Final Fantasy V

Final Fantasy VI

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy IX

Final Fantasy X

Final Fantasy XI

Final Fantasy XII

Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Final Fantasy Tactics

Final Fantasy X-2

Final Fantasy Crystal Chroncles

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children

Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII

Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo’s Dungeon

Dissidia Final Fantasy

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy Type-0

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII

A few other Final Fantasy Spin-offs

Over 65 Playable Characters

Replay Ability: Excellent

Engine Performance: No glitches were encountered during our play-through of this game.

Final Verdict:

Curtain Call brings back the great concept that is Theatrhythm Final Fantasy on Nintendo 3DS. Essentially waving the stylus around as if you’re the composer to some of Role Playing Games’ most inspirational tracks is bad-ass. If you’re a fan of the series, this is a must have for your collection. This packaging in particular sequels the original quite well and provides plenty of content to justify the purchase. As always, if you absolutely hate all rhythm games – you might not like this one either. But if you’re open to what awaits behind the curtain, take a spin with this 3DS Exclusive this holiday season. It should be around at a decent price by now as it released on September 16th, 2014 in the United States and September 19th, 2014 in Europe after the initial release which occurred in Japan on April 24, 2014. Although this is an almost perfect release, there’s still some improvements that players can expect in future installments of the series – presumably compatible with New3DS hardware. There is also a limited edition Nintendo 3DS XL for Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call available only in Japan.

Official Trailer:

Overall Score: 9 / 10

RGN Rating: Gold Game

Developer: Indies zero Co., Ltd

Publisher: Square Enix

Available On: Nintendo 3DS Exclusive

Review Copy Info: A physical copy of this game was purchased by RealGamerNewz for the purpose of this Review.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Jon Ireson on 20141201 and was last modified on 20150423 .

The Announcement Trailer for Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy Curtain Call. This game is expected to release on the Nintendo 3DS some time this year from publisher Square Enix and game manufacturer Nintendo and will be a Nintendo 3DS Exclusive. This trailer shows off some of the classic Final Fantasy songs gamers will remember over the years which will be featured in the nostalgic rhythm game serving as the next-gen version to the original Theatrhythm.

Editor’s Note: RealGamerNewZ has moved web servers, some older posts can no longer be commented on and have been preserved without their images. Thank you for your understanding in this matter. This article was written by Louis Thompson on 20140422 and was last modified on 20140422 .